In Ritchie County, Rural Life Ruined by Fracking Pipelines

Keely Kernan has just published a new short film narrated by Ritchie County, WV resident Jim Shreves, who lives in the middle of what locals now call “Frackistan.”

Jim says, “I am not what you call a city person but yet that is where I am going. I need to get away from this.”

Please watch the video and share widely.

jim.shreve.frack

The short is part of Keely’s In the Hills and Hollows documentary project, sponsored by OVEC and the Civil Society Institute.

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6 Comments

  1. Alan Summerville

    100% correct !!

  2. All of this breaks my heart.i can only imagine how all of you feel.Did the people not have a say in this before it started?or was it all broken promises?if they are destroying the woods , where will wildlife live?And ruining the water?omg!Sending prayers for all involed there!

  3. Yea a lot of people feel this way. It is usually the ones that aren’t getting the money from it. If the well was messed up by the company they would take care of it. Once the pipelines are finished they plant sees etc to make the area look good. Some people just need to find something to fuss about.

    1. They do NOT ‘take care of it” when your well is poisoned. They give you water tanks (“Buffaloes”)so they can then threaten to withhold them if you don’t sign a gag order.

  4. Poisoning our AIR with HIGH CANCER RISK chemicals(from VAST “Evaporation Impoundments”) – IS NOT “JUST SOMETHING TO FUSS ABOUT!” The headaches, neurolgical problems, and nosebleeds mean YOU’RE DEAD in 10-20 years (or less for kids and seniors.) And with plenty of suffering along the way.

    AND NATURE CANNOT REMOVE THESE HIGHLY REFINED POISONS in THESE ENORMOUS QUANTITIES in the soil and water, either. Not in hundreds of years.

    P.S. When they move on (a Marcellus well is productive for only 18 months average)they do not -and cannot- clean up what they’ve done. They only clean up one or two for publicity purposes – and that’s only cosmetic and a VERY poor, cheap job. The landscape is completely destroyed by them already – eventually, NOTHING CAN GROW over poisoned land. North Central West Virginia already looks like a giant industrial park, and they’re not halfway done expanding like giant, poisonous locusts. Why would they spend the money? Who could make them? Certainly not the politicians who ALLOWED this violent and deadly invasion. We can smell Benzene every night now. Look it up, that’s the DEFINITION of “Highest Cancer Risk.” And it’s CUMULATIVE. 50 hours at once, or that much one minute at a time, and you’re all but guaranteed cancer. And we’re breathing it 24/7. Where there was one tower last year, there are FIVE this year within two miles. That’s five 7 acre pad facilities, and have you seen the Mark West compressor station, in Salem on rt.50? There are many more already, some within 200 feet of houses! And that one has QUADRUPLED in size since it was built. It’s no longer safe to eat the deer and the fish. They drink from the cancer ponds, and the meat STINKS when you cut them open, and is of colors not found in nature. For two years now, hunters in Doddridge have been finding them cut open and left in the woods. Already our community and many many more, have become unlivable – and your property is so devalued you could never afford to move away and save your lives. Cancer drugs cost $45 THOUSAND per month – PER PERSON (Family Member)!
    And DO NOT DARE to tell me exporting our gas for higher prices in Japan and India is for “American Energy Independence!” We will be bidding against those 5x prices for OUR GAS, after being poisoned and driven out of our homes (those who can afford to leave and save their lives) to get it..

  5. Virgilene Giboney

    PEOPLE GET MAD BUT THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH,THEIR MONEY WONT LAST FOREVER ,BUT IT IS FOREVER ONCE THEY RUIN OUR ENVIROMENT,WATER.AIR.HILLTOPS,IM SO ASHAMED OF GREED;ITS OUR LIVES ,OUR CHILDRENS LIVES,AND OUR GRANDCHILDRENS LIVES AND OUR ANIMALS LIVES;DEER WITH TUMORS,ANIMALS THAT ARE SICK,PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK FROM EVERYTHING INCLUDING G.M.O. FOODS,WERE SLOWLY KILLING OURSELVES,CANT YOU SEE THAT?ARE YOU TOTALLY BLIND TO THE FACT THAT THIS IS ALL GOING OVERSEAS WITH VERY LITTLE PROFIT ,FILLING YOUR POCKETS FOR A SMALL PERIOD OF TIME AFTER THATS GONE JUST WHAT WILL YOU HAVE? NOTHING TO DRINK AND NOTHING TO BUY;

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